Cylinder cutout is a method of reducing or completely stopping combustion within one or more cylinders of an engine. Cylinder cutout is used during light loading conditions to improve efficiency of the engine, or during cold conditions to raise the temperature of the operating cylinders and subsequently the rest of the engine. However, the use of cylinder cutout can cause excessive noise and vibration within the engine due to an imbalance of torsional loads, on the engine.
Previous solutions to the noise and vibration associated with cylinder cutout have included limiting the magnitude of cylinder cutout, limiting cylinder cutout to allowed geographical locations (e.g., away from residential area), and limiting cylinder cutout to particular times of the day (e.g., between 8 am and 5 pm). These solutions reduce or isolate the engine noise and vibration to comply with local noise ordinances.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,488 (the '488 patent), issued to Hasler et al. on Jul. 11, 2006, discloses a method of controlling operation of an engine having a plurality of cylinders. The method described in the '488 patent includes monitoring a parameter associated with engine operation, determining a range of fluctuations of the parameter from a desired parameter value, and selectively disabling operation of at least one cylinder and less than all of the plurality of cylinders in response to the range of fluctuation being greater than a predetermined threshold. Although the '488 patent discloses a method of selectively disabling one or more cylinders in response to a fluctuation, it fails to disclose a method of reducing engine vibration and noise to an acceptable level.
The presently disclosed systems and methods are directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.